Halo: The Koprulu Sector
by bldude
Summary: After the battle of installation 00 is over, the forward unto dawn drifts to an unknown planet...in the koprulu sector, where the two will find a new threat, one serious enough to threaten the entire galaxy, including earth. Delayed, procrastinating.
1. The Legendary Planet

Author notes: This is a Halo/Starcraft crossover, set place after the end of halo 3, and after the wings of liberty campaign, I'm making this up as I go along, but I'll try to stick to canon of both universes, enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, or any characters, nor do I own Starcraft. The only thing I own is this story and any original characters.**

**1127 Hours, August 17, 2570 (Military Calendar) / FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, Unknown System**

The aft section of the UNSC frigate _Forward Unto Dawn_ drifted silently through space. In Cryogenics-Chamber 4, only one pod was active. Inside laid a 7 foot tall green armored figure with an orange polarized faceplate, the legendary Spartan-II, John-117. The unfreezing process had already begun, and the soldier known as the Master Chief stirred awake. The glass hatch of the pod rose open, and the master chief, after spending a moment to collect his wits, stepped out into the dark chamber. Dull red lights flickered on, as they drew power from emergency batteries, illuminating the cryogenics chamber.

"Cortana, status?" the Chief asked, seemingly to himself, as there was no one else in the chamber. However, a holo-projector in the center of the chamber activated, and a holographic blue woman with lines of code and symbols running along the length of her body appeared.

"We've been caught in the gravity field of an unknown planet, however, there are large cities visible on the surface, and they appear to be forerunner. The Dawn's engines are damaged beyond repair, and we're crash landing."

The master chief pondered on this detail for a moment, then asked "Can we survive the crash?"

"We have a 2.83% chance of survival, but there is still a working escape pod near the hangar, two decks down, we can get off the ship from there. We'll reach the planet's atmosphere in 11 minutes."

The Chief simply nodded. "Alright, let's go." John removed Cortana's chip, a memory drive containing her entire being and inserted it into a specially designed slot in the back of his mjolnir mark. VI helmet. The feeling of mercury flooded John's mind.

"Still not a lot of room in here…"

John left the chamber, and began making his way to the life boat. Along the way, John continued his questions to Cortana. "How long have we been drifting?"

"Almost 17 years. It's been lonely without you." Cortana replied, her voice reverberating in John's head.

At that statement, John paused a step, but continued making his way to the life boat. "What about rampancy?"

"I've achieved a state called metastability. Believe me, I wasn't quite all there for a decade, but I began to stabilize about three years ago, I'm better now, and while there are some…side effects left over from the rampancy, nothing serious enough to jeopardize our lives."

John decided not to inquire more about those side effects for the moment, and continued to the life boat, breaking into a brisk jog.

John had no weapons aside from a covenant energy sword left on hand, and along the way, he didn't find anything either. John was about to land on an unknown, possibly hostile planet since there was a forerunner presence. In John's experience, a near unstoppable parasitic species known as the flood that could take over people's bodies and knowledge usually accompanied any forerunner presences, but there was no other choice, so John pushed that thought away.

The Spartan got into the life boat, the only one remaining, and launched it. The sleek grey pod fell away from the frigate, and starting heating up in atmospheric re-entry. John let Cortana take over the controls, but as it turned out, the life boat's atmosphere thrusters were heavily damaged, and Cortana was unable to stabilize the life boat into a safe landing.

Her only words as the surface of what appeared to be a forerunner city got closer were "Hang on!"

John tried. He had grabbed a handhold in the back of the life boat, and braced himself. It wasn't enough. The life boat crashed nearly nose first, and the front half of the boat was crushed flat. The impact threw John forward to the ground, and despite airbags deploying to dampen the effects, John lost his grip and slammed down hard. Very hard. Upon impact, John blacked out.

**1143 Hours, 2507 (Koprulu Sector Calendar) / Girax II, Planet surface, Raynor's Raider's/Protoss task force joint HQ**

"The ship crash landed about 14 klicks from here, and it's emitting a distress signal. In English."

Colonel Allen Russell thought of that last statement for a second. The Raider's joint objective with the protoss were to find a way to access the Xel'Naga ruins on Girax II and hopefully acquire technology to use against the coming hybrid threat. Ever since the dark prelate zeratul and Raynor witnessed the zerg overmind's vision of a future where protoss-zerg hybrids led by a mysterious foe consumed the galaxy, the Raider's and their Protoss allies main goal had been finding ways to defeat the hybrids.

After considering, Colonel Russell made his decision. "Even though our main objective is getting into the Xel'Naga ruins, I think we can spare some men to investigate this crashed ship. It's weird though, since the distress signal was broadcasted in English, the ship must be of terran origin. But I've never seen any class of ship like that one before. Something that big can't be some backwater world made freighter or whatever. But be careful, sensors still read rogue zerg out there, and we've heard word that there are pirates on the planet somewhere."

"Yes sir" answered Captain Anatoly Kerimov, 39 years old, and a very experienced and seasoned soldier. "I'll take my team out then."

With that, the captain gathered the other five members of his Raider Special Forces team, the Wildcats Bravo squad, and headed out in their team medivac dropship.

**Unknown Location…**

Master Chief John-117 stirred, feeling lightheaded from the crash. John was faintly aware that he wasn't in his mjolnir armor, and he was in a different, unfamiliar location…

_And that's the first chapter! I hope to finish the second one pretty soon. If you're confused about how come the dates don't match up, that'll be explained pretty soon…and it's not because of any alternate universe crossovers or w/e, you'll see. Don't forget to review, so I can get some more ideas, and hope to write better!_


	2. Revelations

A/N: this is the 2nd chapter! I'll try to make the chapters longer, and work on my writing, enjoy!

**Unknown Location…**

The Master Chief stirred, then snapped fully awake, alert, and in a combat position. He was in a completely white room, and had been lying on some sort of pedestal. John scanned the room, and could find no one else with him. His mjolnir armor was missing, and he was wearing only the black undersuit. Having been in his armor for so much of his life, he felt oddly naked without it on.

There were no exits that John could see, and as the seconds went by, the emptiness of the room bothered him. But John wasn't alone for long.

Appearing out of thin air in a flash of light was a monitor with a bright green "eye".

"Greetings Reclaimer!" the monitor said, "I am 133027 Sycophantic Shepard, monitor of this Shelter World, welcome to my outpost."

The master chief had encountered monitors like this one before, but not all of them seemed as friendly as this one, in fact, one in particular had killed a good friend before, and tried to kill him as well. So John decided to remain cautious around this monitor, and see what was going on.

John started out with some simple questions, "What happened? Why am I here?"

"Your life boat crashed on the planet surface, and you took terrible, terrible damage." The monitor oddly stressed the words terrible. Continuing on, "We transported you to this facility to revitalize you. As to how your vessel arrived at this world, it appears AI 05-032 directed your ship on a trajectory to land on this planet. Why did he do this, I am not certain, but it is no matter."

Pondering on this information, and the unfamiliar AI designation, the Chief decided to leave it alone, and find out more immediately important information, like what happened to his armor and Cortana. But before the Chief could phrase his questions, the monitor answered.

"I predicted several questions that you may have, to answer them in a speedier manner. The combat skin you were wearing was heavily damaged, so we took it to repair and upgrade. It appears to be the equivalent of a class two combat skin, woefully inadequate for our current sector of space. And-"

The monitor suddenly paused, leaving the Chief confused. But it resumed in a moment.

"It appears that the artificial intelligence carried in your combat skin has regained awareness following its repair. It's not cooperating, perhaps you can help?

John immediately agreed to the request, and the monitor transported them to another sterile, white room, but this one with a device John couldn't make heads or tails of. Cortana materialized, life-size in the room, without any holographic projectors John could see. The soldier and long time partner of the quirky AI was filled with concern, and questions as to the "repairs" that the monitor had mentioned.

A visible look of relief appeared across Cortana's features, "Chief! You're alright! What's going on?"

"We're in a forerunner facility, some sort of shelter world."

Sycophantic Shepard immediately stated, "Yes, a shelter world for reclaimers. My primary objective is your well being, reclaimer, as well as anything you may need."

"_Might explain why this monitor is so unusually helpful compared to the rest…"_ John thought. Out loud, John asked "Alright then, what are these "repairs" you mentioned earlier about Cortana?

"Your AI was suffering from processing fluctuations brought on from extended rampancy. Although its core personality appears to have stabilized, it was operating with a severe amount of degradation. This room is an AI maintenance center. Your AI has had all degradation repaired, and its processing and memory capabilities enhanced to the equivalent of a Contender class AI." The monitor replied. "The most advanced AI upgrade this facility is rated to provide!"

Cortana had a wide eyed look on her face, "Sycophantic Shepard is right, I feel great! My processing power has increased exponentially, and I have 93.6% free memory space, even with the forerunner database." Cortana turned to address the monitor, "You're awfully helpful, a lot more useful than the previous monitor we've encountered."

"As I stated before, a reclaimer's well being is my primary objective, but I must inquire, to whom do you refer to as this previous monitor?"

Cortana, seeing no harm in telling the obsequious little monitor, answered, "It was 343 Guilty Spark, the monitor of Installation 04"

Sycophantic Shepard hummed knowingly, "I see, 343 Guilty Spark was from the 1000 series of AI, they were always known to be unruly, sometimes going past standard constraints. But I'm from the 100000 series, no errors like what the 1000 series can have will happen to me. Why, across 900.2 million diagnostic tests over the last 100,000 years, I show less than a 0.006 degradation in core personality!"

"I see…" Murmured the UNSC AI, "We'll have to take your word for it."

"Now then, we have completed the overhaul on your combat skin reclaimer. Shall we go to it now?" inquired the monitor.

The Chief simply nodded, and the hovering blinking ball once again, activated the slipstream transport grid built into the planet. The Spartan, and the monitor disappeared in a flash of golden light.

"Um, forgetting someone guys?"

Cortana was left behind, upset at her solitude yet again.

**Forerunner Armory**

The duo winked into existence in another room, a suit of dull green armor stood on the sole pedestal in the room. The Forerunner armory looked exactly like all the other rooms the Spartan had visited.

The Spartan noticed someone missing. "Where's Cortana?"

Sycophantic Shepard floated toward the suit of armor, and rays of light emitted by the monitor probed the surface. "Once the combat skin is activated, your construct will be directly transferred into a memory slot."

Shepard stopped its probing, and turned its "eye" to face the Spartan.

"Your previous combat skin, at pristine condition would have been the equivalent of a class two, utterly useless in this region of space. Unfortunately, this facility does not have the best equipment available, so we were only able to upgrade your combat skin to the equivalent of a class forty. My apologies reclaimer." The monitor bobbed in what seemed like regret.

Personally, the Master Chief thought that an armor system twenty times stronger than Mjolnir was more than sufficient, but he simply nodded.

The chief began to equip the strange, yet familiar armor. The appearance was the same as his old armor, but was more streamlined. One radical difference was the powerplant on the back of the suit. Now, it was a lot smaller.

The monitor started to explain the suit's features.

"We tried to keep this upgraded armor as similar to your original armor; we brought your previously inadequate shielding system up to standards. Shield strength is now 780% higher, and shield regeneration will happen gradually, with or without damage to the shields, although the rate of regeneration would be more efficient when not taking hits."

John listened attentively, and like what he was hearing.

The monitor continued, "In addition, a shield hardening feature was implemented as well, your shields will not drain more than 5% from any single hit, although if the impact is above what your shields normally cannot absorb, the ability will not take effect."

At this statement, John froze in shock. Shields that can negate damage over a certain point? John could only imagine the ramifications and new tactics available to him.

"Your previous combat skin's physical material is too poorly refined to be useful against energy based weaponry. We have increased the durability, and added a lamination of ciridium, our strongest armor material. It's impressive properties of absorbing directed energy weapons should be sufficient in the event your shields fail."

By this time, John had finished putting on the armor.

"Your suit sensors and abilities also include detection against cloaked or burrowed foes. Your suit can produce oxygen to sustain you indefinitely. And we've included our best power system. Your suit has 6000% greater power than your previous power source. This plant powers a biological repair system that revitalizes you in the event of injury, as well as an armor repair system, standard in all combat skins of class twenty two and above. Your suit also features several built in weapons. A high powered sentinel beam and a matter converter that can replenish any munitions your weapons may use, as well as create any equipment you might need on the field, within the limit of the energy source."

The amount of technology in this new suit was mind boggling. But one worry still nagged John, "_Is this sector of space really so dangerous that this armor is considered barely adequate?_"

John was about to ask the monitor on what species were present in this region, when the familiar feeling of mercury flooded his mind. Cortana had been transferred to his suit.

The first words out of her were, "Why did you two leave me so suddenly back there! I didn't know what was going on and…" The sudden break in Cortana's irritation surprised John, who was about to reassure the grumpy AI.

"Wow…there is so much space in here that I don't know where to start…It's larger than any UNSC installation network that I've been in, much larger…I like your new armor."

Cortana began exploring the suit's memory banks, leaving John with the monitor.

"Thank you for the armor and for repairing Cortana. I have several more questions though. Do you know the status of the ship that I crashed from?"

Not missing a beat, the monitor answered. "What is left of your ship that survived re-entry has crashed approximately nine thousand kilometers from our present location. That brings me to another thing. A group of terrans have started to investigate the crash."

John blinked. "What do you mean by terrans?" the Spartan noted that Cortana was taking an interest in the conversation as well. "_Wait, doesn't terran mean, of earth?_"

The monitor answered John's question. "The Terran race is very similar to your own reclaimer, but their genetic code has mutated enough for them to be classified as an aboriginal subspecies. That and the fact that any encounter with them resulted in their failure to exchange proper code words. They are one of three major races in power in this sector."

This new information stumped John. "_Humans? How did they get here?_"

John had to ask, "What sort of genetic mutations?"

"Some have developed limited telepathy and telekinesis"

John was finding this region of space to be more familiar, yet stranger than ever before. But he realized he had yet to ask an important question.

"How far are we from the Sol System?"

"About 60,000 light years" replied the monitor cheerfully.

"60,000 light-" John felt his jaw hit the floor.

John could hardly believe it, "That means we are far pass the borders of known UNSC space, how is it possible for humans to exist here?"

Cortana appeared out of thin air, about five feet high, right next to John. "Looks like your suit also has a portable holographic projector," Cortana appeared to be deep in thought.

"There is ONE possibility, but it's the only thing that makes sense…"

John was surprised that humans this far out was even possible, let alone a fact. "How did they get here Cortana?"

"Okay, this will be a bit of a history lesson. Remember when individual political countries fell apart by the end of the 22nd century?"

John recalled his boring history classes at the Reach training camp. "The UEG was formed by 2170 following the interplanetary war."

Cortana nodded. "Correct, but there's also a little known period of time in the 23rd century. It's not taught in schools or mentioned anymore because of how immoral humanity was at that time. In 2229, the United Powers League took over due to political and social turmoil, but the UPL was essentially a police state. The UPL embraced the philosophy of the "Divinity of Mankind" and they embarked on a campaign of purification, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of millions. They were eventually brought down and the UEG was restored, along with the UNSC. Humanity was ashamed of its actions during this time, and did not want their descendants to know about this. During this period of time however, a scientist by the name of Doran Routhe took thousands of prisoners from the purge and cryogenically froze them for long voyage sleeper colony ships. Routhe wanted to colonize an outlying world, but due to a computer error, the ships flew past their destination and lost communication. Routhe was discredited, and went missing. I'm hypothesizing that these terrans are from those colony ships. They must have traveled for decades before landing in this sector of space. As for these genetic mutations, it's possible that they developed them during their long travel time."

It was a lot to take in, but John agreed that this did make sense.

Sycophantic Shepard chimed in more information, "The terrans, through their many decades in this sector have established no more than a dozen well developed worlds, but also over fifty outpost worlds." The monitor paused, and then added in "Their current level of development is significantly inferior to your pre-upgraded armor. You should find no trouble with them."

The Spartan hoped an encounter with them would prove non violent, but he wasn't confident. From what he figured of Cortana's exposition, these far flung humans could be vastly different, even strange to him. But the Spartan concentrated on the matter at hand.

"You said three races…what about the other two?"

Sycophantic Shepard almost seemed ashamed when it spoke, "The first is known as the Zerg Swarm. They are a hive based species, very adaptive to any situation through quick and forced mutations. Although organic in nature, they have organisms capable of interstellar travel. We created them…in an experiment with flood biology, and like the flood, they can infest other biological organisms. It was a mistake, and they have become a serious threat to this sector. But also know this; the Zerg will soon be needed against a far greater foe."

The Chief gulped in nervousness at a flood-like species, especially one capable of ftl travel. But Shepard's following explanation reassured the super-soldier somewhat.

Shepard seemed more prideful while explaining the next race, "Knowing how grievous our mistake was, we created another race, modeled on our own. They are known as the Protoss, a very mentally powerful race of telepaths and telekinetic beings. They have managed to keep the Zerg at bay until very recently, when Terran interference caused the Zerg ecosystem to arrive in this sector. Chaos ensued. Even now, the conflict is still raging on."

Things sounded grim in area of space, and John still couldn't fully wrap his mind around the monitor's explanation. There was one thing John missed however, but fortunately, Cortana had been paying attention as well.

"You mentioned a threat bigger than what's going now, what is it?"

Sycophantic Shepard bobbed apologetically, "Oh yes, there is a fast approaching force of beings from a distant galaxy. To the few in this sector who know of their existence, they are known as "hybrids". A secret race, who we theorize to be precursors created them as extremely powerful minions, combining the endurance and tenacity of the Zerg, and the mental and psionic abilities of the protoss into one race, created for destruction and cruelty. Even now, they come, drawn to this galaxy. They will wipe out all life in this galaxy, starting with this region of space. And the local races are too embroiled to notice the looming threat."

Cortana looked to the Chief in alarm, "That means these "Hybrids" will also find what the UNSC is today and destroy them too!"

The Master Chief nodded in grim concurrence, the soldier asked the monitor, "Is there anyway to stop these hybrids?"

For once, the monitor seemed unsure. "I am not privy to the specifics of the knowledge you seek. However, I do know for a fact that my creators had long known about the hybrids, and created some sort of defense hidden away in this sector. What it is specifically, I do not know. Perhaps the knowledge may exist in another of our outposts. Of which you have a list in your database."

Relieved at a chance of victory, no matter how slim, the Master Chief immediately discussed what to do next with Cortana.

"We should find a way to warn the UNSC of this threat."

Cortana agreed, and proceeded to inquire on any possible communications present in this outpost capable of reaching the UNSC.

The monitor delivered the good news, "There is one way, however, it will only work once with the remaining power left in this outpost, what destination do you have in mind?"

"The third planet from the Sol system," replied the AI.

Cortana compiled all the data collected so far, on the hybrids, an overview on the races in this region, and the presence of forerunners, or as called by the locals, Xel'Naga.

The message was sent, and the monitor confirmed its arrival.

Feeling that their was nothing left to do here, the duo decided that the next step was to head to the crashed Forward Unto Dawn, and see if they could make contact with the Terrans.

"There is a slipspace transport grid present on this world, however, the recent excavations by the locals has badly damaged it. It looks like we can only get within a certain distance." Turning to face the most helpful monitor they had ever seen. "Thank you for all your help."

"It is a pleasure to serve you, reclaimer. If you need anything else, as long as you are within orbit of this shelter world, I can be contacted, and I will provide any aid possible."

Cortana accessed the Xel'Naga slipspace transport grid, and teleported them as close as possible to the crashed frigate that had brought them here.

The Chief arrived in a cave, approximately five kilometers away from the crash site. The Spartan made his way toward the Dawn. But in the shadows behind him, a slender figure followed the Master Chief, unseen by the naked eye…

_I'm finally done with the second chapter! Please excuse the long wait for this update; I'm very slow in writing. Another thing was that I had to study the game history of both Halo and Starcraft, and try to connect them. Some action will finally happen in the next chapter! Which will be published…Eventually. Review please!_


	3. Power Overwhelming

A/N: Welcome to the 3rd chapter! Sorry for the long wait. Thanks for the reviews guys

To answer some questions, superblahbityblaheh: Yes, it's a bit hard to incorporate both the starcraft and halo canon together, so I have to make some parts up. And the MC isn't gonna be OP for long…don't forget the protoss are there and as the main antagonists, the hybrids are gonna be making an appearance as well… So enjoy the story!

**1657 Hours, August 17, 2570 (Military Calendar) / Five Km from FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, Girax II**

"She's still following us," reminded the ever present AI.

A cloaked human in what appeared to be a hostile environment bodysuit was stalking the Master Chief, unaware that with his forerunner upgrades, the chief could see the ghost as plain as day.

**Crash Site of FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn**

Captain Kerimov took in the sight of the downed frigate. The ship was perfectly bisected by some sort of energy weapon, so only the aft part of the ship remained. Judging by the details on the hull, this ship appeared to be of a frigate class belonging to a faction named UNSC, yet Kerimov estimated that at full length, this ship would be nearly as long as a Minotaur-class battlecruiser, one of the largest ships in the Terran fleet.

Kerimov turned to consult with his tech specialist, Corporal Riley Cooper.

"Corporal, what do you make of it?"

"It's amazing, I've taken a sample of the hull, and it's very durable, tougher than even neosteel! The ship has sixty centimeters of this armor plating, but there's severe damage on the hull, from what appears to be energy weapons fire, and from the looks of it, whatever caused the damage is a great deal more stronger than whatever we have," replied Cooper.

"Anything else?" asked Kerimov.

"Well, it's impossible to tell for sure without more equipment than just my portable scanners, but the alloy does resemble titanium, but not entirely…Also, besides conventional rockets, this ship also appears to utilize an alternate form of propulsion, of which I can't recognize."

Captain Kerimov nodded to the tech, and turned away, starting to make his way into the interior of the ship, when his CMC combat suit comm. Set beeped. Kerimov stopped and listened. The quiet and calculating voice of Specialist Hana Nakano came through his ear piece.

"Single contact three kilometers from your position sir, it appears humanoid, but it's encased in some sort of full body armor. It's heading directly for the crashed ship."

Hana Nakano was a former Dominion Ghost trooper, turned Raider Black Ops. Anatoly didn't know her history, but word was that the 19 year old ghost trooper had been recruited by Raynor himself. Regardless, Kerimov was glad he had her skill set. Hana was a top sniper, as well as a close quarter combat expert. She was particularly proficient with her signature psyblade, and Kerimov had seen her skillfully assassinate Protoss troops before.

Kerimov frowned, "It might be a survivor from this ship, is it armed?"

"Yes, and with some significant firepower too, I see at least four firearms on it."

It was probably human, _but still_, Kerimov thought, it would be best to be sure.

"Alright, see if you can disable this person, and find out more about this ship's origins" said Kerimov.

"Roger that sir…"

"And remember, we need it alive to be questioned," insisted Kerimov.

"Yes sir. Nakano out"

Kerimov continued into the ship, keeping close attention to the next status update from Hana. Meanwhile, Sergeant Oliver Ward lumbered over, with heavy footfalls in his marauder armor.

"Captain, I've done a sweep of the ship, there are no bodies, no one alive on the ship."

"Hmm, then that person could be our only source of information then…" said Kerimov, in deep thought.

"Sir?"

"Hana found someone, possibly a survivor, a couple kilometers away, while she was securing the perimeter, she's going to bring him in." explained Kerimov.

Ward chuckled, "I feel sorry for that poor sap, he'll never know what hit him."

**In a cavern three kilometers away…**

"She's reaching for a rifle Chief, she may be trying to disable you."

The Master Chief tracked the cloaked ghost with his 360 degrees vision system, with no outward change in appearance.

"Remember, don't use too much force, she looks like she's wearing some sort of thin form fitting polymer suit, and we don't want to accidentally kill her with your augmented strength, it wouldn't be the best outcome of our first encounter with the local humans," said the AI.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," reassuring the fastidious AI.

The ghost made her move.

Cortana scanned the rifle the ghost was using.

"She's loaded some sort of emp shot."

Hana fired a single specialized lockdown round at the Spartan.

The Chief, faster than the speeding bullet, evaded it, and closed the distance between him and the ghost. Even with her suit's psi-sentsitive artificial muscle fiber boosting her reaction time, to the augmented Spartan-II, Hana might as well have been standing still. The Spartan super soldier disarmed the ghost in one quick move, and then straddled the ghost, taking care not to crush the woman's body with the half ton weight of his mjolnir armor.

**Hana's POV**

Hana fired her lockdown round, hoping it would immobilize the unknown soldier, and make it easy for her to question him. But as soon as the bullet left her C-20 rifle, the soldier disappeared in a blur of green. The next thing Hana knew, she was being straddled, and her rifle had been knocked away. The ghost blinked. "_What the hell just happened!"_ The soldier had been impossibly fast, and had reacted to the sound of her rifle firing, pinpointing her location in that frame of time, and taken her down before she could even blink.

The green armored giant spoke, in a deep male voice, clearly and in English. "Who are you and what do you want from me?"

Hana swallowed nervously, painfully aware that she was in a very bad position. As an elite ghost, Hana was usually in the opposite position.

"I'm Specialist Hana Nakano of the Terran/Protoss Alliance, I was trying to disable you, to question you, I meant no harm otherwise, are you from that crashed ship nearby?"

**Normal POV**

"You could have just asked nicely…and yes, I'm the sole survivor from the ship" replied the Spartan. "_So, it would appear that the terrans and these protoss have some sort of alliance_" The Spartan pocketed that piece of information away in his mind.

The Chief let Hana go, as a gesture of good will.

"Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117, UNSC."

"I haven't heard of a faction named the UNSC before…Will you come with me? My commander would like to speak with you, to find out the how did you get here." Asked the ghost, embarrassed at her dismal failure to take this Master Chief down. The Spartan-117 had to be a code name, but it wasn't her job to find out his name, she'd leave that to Captain Kerimov.

The Chief nodded in assent.

"I'll go with you; I need to find some information out myself…"

Hana nodded, and gestured to follow. The two set off toward the Forward Unto Dawn, the seven foot tall Spartan-II and the much shorter ghost.

While walking, Hana commed Captain Kerimov,

"Captain, I'm heading back with the survivor, he's a Master Chief Petty Officer of the UNSC"

Hana could almost imagine the Russian officer's signature frown, "UNSC? Never heard of it before, it's on the ship though. We'll be waiting."

Hana was about to acknowledge, when a loud explosion came from Kerimov's end. The Master Chief had Cortana pick up their comm. Frequency and listened in.

An officer, with a slight Russian accent was yelling orders to people,

"The dropship's been fragged! Fall back!"

**Crash Site of FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn**

Captain Anatoly Kerimov sprinted toward the crashed ship, Forward Unto Dawn, his speed enhanced by his CMC-500 powered combat suit. The team medic, 24 year old 1st Lieutenant Akilina Silvinit was close behind him.

"Take cover in the ship interior!"

Point man Corporal Devin Moore came up beside Kerimov.

"Captain, there's a wave of zerg advancing on our position, it's from that rogue brood we detected on the other continent, there are zerglings, at least a hundred, as well as several dozen hydralisks!"

Following the successful transformation of the Queen of Blades back into a human being, all zerg in the Koprulu sector became rogue, without a superior intelligence to control them. The raiders had detected a sizeable brood on a nearby continent, but Kerimov didn't think they would be this close to the raider landing site, and in these numbers.

"We'll take cover in the crashed ship; it's the only defensible position here."

The trio reached the ship, and vaulted into a hole in the hull, about four meters across, and one meter high. Inside, were Ward in his 5-4 marauder suit, and Cooper in her CMC-500L light technician suit.

Kerimov informed Ward and Cooper of the situation,

"The dropship's been destroyed, and a wave of zerg are advancing on our position, Cooper, contact HQ for evac ASAP!"

"Roger that sir."

Kerimov turned to the others,

"Me, Moore, and Cooper will line up on this wall and take out any zerg that comes up that path. Ward will cover us, and concentrate on any hydralisks, stimpacks are authorized, Silvinit will heal us when needed."

Cooper looked up,

"Sir, HQ has medievac incoming, ETA 12 minutes."

"Good, I'll have Nakano give us fire support from somewhere."

**Back to the Chief and Hana**

"Our transport is down, and evac is 10 minutes away, I need to help my teammates."

The Chief nodded,

"I'll help in anyway I can, we better hurry, from the sound of things, your one squad won't be able to hold out long against an opposing force this size."

Hana nodded in gratitude, and the two sprinted toward the Dawn.

**Inside the Forward Unto Dawn**

Kerimov fired a two second burst from his C-14 impaler rifle. Sixty 8mm depleted uranium slugs smashed into a charging zergling, and stopped it in its tracks. Around him, Moore and Cooper did likewise. Ward fired his Quad K12 "Punisher" grenade launchers, able to pump out four jackhammer concussive grenades in as many seconds, each grenade slowing down the zerglings. Together, the four soldiers were able to take down a dozen zerglings before they could even get close. But for every zergling they killed, two more took its place.

"_We're gonna be overwhelmed pretty quickly at this rate"_ thought Kerimov.

"Stimpacks are authorized!" Kerimov shouted.

Wordless, all four spec-ops troopers activated their armor's built in stimpack system. Kerimov instantly felt the empowering effects of the temporary stimulant. Things slowed down to half its normal speed, and Kerimov was able to take down at least twice as many zerglings as before. All his senses were heightened by the stimpack's effect…at a cost. In addition to his temporarily enhanced senses, he also felt debilitating weakness, the downside of the stimpack. And in about a minute, at which point the stim would wear off, that weakness would become even more intolerable. However, that was what Lt. Silvinit was there for. The medic activated her gauntlet's nano-conveyed anesthetic "healing" beams. With the new stabilizer medpacks, Silvinit could also heal faster and for less energy.

A pair of hydralisks arrived on scene and advanced up the path, firing needle spines coated with acid. One spine hit Silvinit, penetrating her CMC-405 light combat suit in the left shoulder. The Russian descended medic flinched, but didn't stop in keeping her teammates vitals up, and her suit's medical agent delivery system counteracted the acid from the spine. Silvinit pulled the spine out without a sound and dropped it.

More spines were fired, and Kerimov positioned himself between the projectiles and the lighter armored medic, taking the spines against his alliance standard issue M98 combat shield. Meanwhile, Ward lobbed half a dozen grenades at the hydralisks, reducing them to smoking cinders. However, _four_ more hydralisks appeared, unleashing a flurry of spines. Three spines hit and shattered Cooper's faceplate and knocked the young tech specialist to the ground, on Kerimov's HUD, Cooper's vitals flatlined. The team's first casualty. Kerimov forced himself to ignore the death, because if he froze up, more of his team would die. His radio beeped, and the combat coordinator back at base camp told "ETA dropship in 7 minutes."

**

* * *

**

Meanwhile, the ghost trooper and the Master Chief had just finished traversing a cliff. The shattered grey hulk that was the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn laid in a self-made valley. At least a hundred zerg crowded around one side of it, streaming up a very narrow path in small groups at a time.

Hana froze in shock at the sight of so many Zerg. To her, the situation looked hopeless, but her training took over, and she put herself in a calm, zen no-thought state. The dark haired ghost reconfigured her C-20A rifle into sniper mode, and started firing psi enhanced rounds, which utterly destroyed hydralisk after hydralisk. But at this rate, the beleaguered team's position would be overrun anyway. But the Master Chief was there. He was the soldier that had turned the tides of countless battles throughout humanity's fight against the Covenant, and he had stopped the threat of the Halos and the Flood cold.

The seasoned soldier took in the situation in an instant. He noted that while there were a lot of zerg in the valley, only a few of them were attacking at a time, while the rest milled around, waiting for their turn to rush the Terran position.

"_Time to test these upgrades_" He thought.

"Cortana, whenever I need a reload, can you create more ammunition for me using this suit's system?"

"Even better, I can modify and enhance the ammunition based on the situation. This matter-converter is amazing, I can create my own designed munitions!" Replied the AI.

Cortana continued, "Here are two new ammunition types. I've created a new plasma round for your assault rifle. These rounds have plasma cores encased within the round, and they detonate when they impact the target. Very effective against shielded or armored targets, these should be more than enough for the Zerg carapaces. Additionally, I've enhanced your M41 SSR's rockets. Like your assault rifle's ammunition, they are enhanced with plasma energy. Each rocket has multiple times as much power as your standard rockets, but this kind is made specifically to take on massed infantry."

The ammunition appeared on the ground next to the Spartan, and he proceeded to load them in his weapons. The Spartan took careful aim with the M41, targeting the largest clusters of Zerg, and fired both rockets in the double barreled launcher. Before the rockets hit their targets, the Chief reloaded and fired his last two. The pairs of rockets detonated three seconds apart, killing more than half the remaining Zerg forces. The Chief waited a moment for Cortana to create more rockets, but when she didn't, he got annoyed.

"Cortana, I need more rockets." Asked the Spartan in a irritated tone.

Cortana spoke, taken aback, about a disheartening discovery. "Hmm, this suit's new power plant is much, much stronger than anything the UNSC has. But it seems creating high energy complicated custom ammunition will put a strain on even this. Those four rockets took up 27% of your suit's energy. If I create more, it'll have to draw power from other parts of your suit, like shields."

The Spartan frowned, but accepted it. _"I guess I'll have to make due then"_

At the sight of just four rockets wiping out the majority of the Zerg forces, Hana had snapped out of her no-thought state, and had stared at the Chief in stunned silence for a good half minute. She finally regained her voice, "Holy shit. That was amazing! I've never seen such firepower, even with the Protoss!"

With sudden realization, the ghost continued in an awed tone, "No Terran force in the Koprulu has such incredible firepower and your speed back in the cavern..."

And came a shocking revelation to the Spartan, "Which means you have to be from Earth, only they might have such impressive weaponry."

John whipped his head around, toward Hana.

"You know about Earth?" He asked in an astonished tone.

"The UED attacked years ago...but even though they had some technological advantages, most of their forces used the same technology we did…But this UNSC, is it some kind of more advanced faction in your sector of space?"

John was even more confused than before, but he was saved from having to respond.

Cortana, using the suit's speakers, reminded the two of a still present threat.

"Um, in case you two haven't noticed, there are still a lot of Zerg out there, and they look like they're heading for us now!"

Hana was surprised, "Who was that?" she inquired.

The Chief replied while observing the approaching zerg, "An artificial intelligence contained in my armor named Cortana, she provides real time intel and support."

Cortana was right, the Zerg, having noticed the evidently larger threat, was rapidly closing in on the pair's position.

The Spartan took aim with his MA5C assault rifle, and opened fire. The enhanced ammunition caused a small plasma explosion effect when they hit zerg units, and they were highly effective. A burst of six to eight rounds were enough to put down a single zergling. Half a clip was needed to kill a hydralisk however, but he reloaded quickly, and any break in firing was negligible. More clips were created, and Cortana had a bit of good news.

"It turns out that I can create assault rifle ammunition without significant power usage. You can effectively have an unlimited supply of ammunition using your standard weapons."

The Chief grunted a reply, "I'll take it."

Hana fired an irradiation grenade from her canister rifle at a cluster of zerglings, and ducked down behind some cover when a hydralisk targeted her.

"Why don't you use some more of those missiles from earlier?" She shouted, over the unrelenting cries of the zerg rushing their position.

"I'm out!" The Spartan replied, he reached for some grenades, and then realized he hadn't replicated any. Cortana noticed the action, and created four fragmentation grenades immediately.

"They're enhanced for more armor penetration!" said Cortana.

The Spartan lobbed all four without hesitation, wiping out a column of six hydralisks.

But there were still around forty zerglings, with another twenty hydralisks, and with only two sources of fire, they would soon be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Dozens of spines hit the Spartan, and his shields dropped rapidly, although no more than a hair at a time. John took cover behind the same rocks Hana was hiding behind, and fired his MA5C over them.

To Hana, she faced another surprise. "You have shields too! And pretty strong ones too, judging by all the spines you took…"

"Chief! Use the grey device strapped to your waist! It's a sentinel beam, I've analyzed its power, and it should be very effective against these zerg!" Cortana was back.

The Spartan stopped firing his assault rifle, and slung it on his back, magnetic strips holding onto the weapon. He grabbed the sentinel beam, and after studying it for a second, found it to be similar to the ones he used from fallen sentinels, albeit connected to his suit by a thin, yet sturdy, flexible cord. The Spartan pressed down on a touchpad, where a trigger on a firearm would traditionally be, and a bright blue beam was emitted from the weapon. Cortana was right, it was very effective. The beam sliced through zerglings in an instant, cutting through them like knife to butter. The Chief raked the beam across the field, and killed at least thirty zerglings. He then brought the tremendously powerful weapon to bear against the remaining hydralisks. It took a little longer, but the beam still melted through the zerg carapace in no time at all. In seven seconds, the Spartan, using the sole forerunner designed weapon given with the suit, had laid waste to every last zerg in the valley. Even the Chief was awestruck.

The Terran ghost was even more so, having been stunned into silence for a second time recently. But Hana was smart, and noticed several things, even while being awed by the magnificent technology the Chief had displayed.

"You didn't use that weapon before because you didn't know about it, until your AI analyzed it. That would mean that you're not familiar with your armor, or it's relatively new."

The Chief nodded at the correct deduction made by the ghost. "_She's pretty smart"_

"Yes, I recently got my armor upgraded, on this world actually, in a Forerunner outpost."

Upon seeing the blank look on Hana's face, John elaborated.

"They're also known as the Xel'Naga."

And at the mention of that particular name, Hana's face lit up in realization.

"You've found a Xel'Naga outpost? AND gotten such powerful weapons out of it? We've been searching for weeks on this planet alone without success. And you've been on the planet for only a couple hours!"

Hana's exclamation was interrupted by a medivac dropship rocketing toward the crashed UNSC frigate.

Realizing where they were, Hana decided to question this Master Chief back at base. For now…

"We'll talk later…And thanks for saving us." With that, Hana started towards the dropship.

"No problem" replied the Spartan, as he followed.

**

* * *

**

The dropship landed in an open space, and Kerimov, with Moore and Ward carrying Cooper's body, and Silvinit bringing up the rear ran towards it. Eight marines disembarked, taking up a defensive perimeter around the dropship. One of them, a Lieutenant, came up to Kerimov.

The Russian captain started briefing the officer on the situation.

"We were pinned down, and took cover in the wreckage of that ship. We took one casualty, our field technician, Cpl. Cooper, and then we heard several large explosions. Following that, the entire zerg force moved off, away from us. I've assumed it was Specialist Nakano, our Ghost operative drawing the zerg away from us. I don't know her status now, because our radio got hit, but there's no way she could've taken them on."

The lieutenant looked at Kerimov and frowned.

"Well you don't need to worry about that, because all the zerg are dead. We passed their remains on the way here; it looked like they had been vaporized by some powerful particle weaponry."

Kerimov was shocked at this piece of news, and mulled it over for a second.

"There was one person with her, a survivor from this ship, in some sort of armor, but from her description, I doubt even he could cause some devastation."

"Wait a minute, a survivor? So this ship is human made?" Asked the marine.

However, Kerimov didn't have time to answer the marine officer. For Hana and the Master Chief had just arrived on the scene.

Hana immediately pointed out the Chief's incredibly destructive weaponry.

"Guys, this is the Master Chief, and he just single-handedly wiped out a hundred zerglings and hydralisks."

Everyone in the area stood in stunned silence. A marine in the back said what was on everyone's minds.

"Holy shit."

Hana continued, after everyone had regained their composure enough to listen.

"He's also the sole survivor from this ship, and he got the tech from a Xel'Naga outpost on this planet."

At this point, Kerimov interceded.

"And he's been on this planet for what? Less than half a day and he's already got the firepower to wipe out a hundreds of zerg in a couple minutes? Wow…"

The Chief finally spoke,

"Yes, I was told your commander wanted to question me. I'm Spartan-117, a Master Chief petty officer in the UNSC navy."

Kerimov, having gathered his wits, nodded.

"Pleased to meet you, especially since you just saved our asses. I'm Captain Kerimov, leader of the Wildcats Bravo squad special operations division."

Seeming to remember how sudden the zerg attack was, Kerimov made a decision.

"Lets continue this back at our base, my superior officer would very like to meet you, and learn more about your UNSC, this place is no longer safe, the last comsat scan we made indicated that the closest zerg forces were thousands of kilometers away, obviously, they were wrong, and after what happened today, I don't want to get ambushed by an even larger zerg force."

Everyone murmured their assent, and they all boarded the dropship. The Master Chief was led into the dropship, and given a surprising large seat by Hana, who gazed at the Spartan with not only awe now, but respect.

_And that's the third chapter! I'm also lowering the rating to T for now, at least until I get better at describing a violent scene. I'm not that satisfied with this chapter, I had some writer's block and this could have been better otherwise. I hope to those that this may concern, that the Chief's upgrades didn't seem too power overwhelming. I'll try to write more fluid, and descriptively in the upcoming chapters, for now, please rate and review! Thanks for reading this chapter! -bldude P.S. I've noticed some ppl think I'm bi. I'm not. the bl stands for my initials._


	4. A slow transit

A/N: Ch.4 now! By the way, for those of you who are wondering, this fic will never be dead, because I've already fully planned out the storyline. Thanks for the reviews! Hope this chapter won't be too boring…

Added Note: This new revision is just some corrections in grammar, and that sterilized sex drive mistake that's been bothering me (And probably some readers) for months. Also, now that I'm more or less done with the toil of High School, I should probably continue writing this story right?

**1721 Hours, August 17, 2570 (Military Calendar) / DS-011 on approach to Alliance Base Camp, Girax II**

Except for the surreptitious glances at him, John was left alone. Through a thin window slit behind his seat, the Spartan could see the landscape below. He noted that this "medivac" dropship was significantly slower than the standard UNSC pelican. From the viewpoint of the marines with him in the dropship troop bay, the Spartan appeared to be perfectly still, as if sleeping. But inside his advanced Mjolnir armor, enhanced with Forerunner technology, John had 360 degrees of vision, as well as scanning capabilities. Since the beginning of the ride, Cortana had been analyzing the technology these Terrans were using.

And it appeared that Cortana had just finished. Cortana's presence filled John's mind, and she spoke in her usual witty tone.

"I've analyzed the weapons those marines of theirs use, as well as…checked their databases"

The Spartan raised an eyebrow at the last comment. Cortana had already successfully hacked the Terran network? The AI took notice of John's reaction.

"Yes, their electronic defenses folded like they weren't even there. They do have some sort of artificial intelligence controlling their network however, something they call "Adjutant", but its capabilities are far below that of the UNSC, it's more like a NAV computer in power. Anyways, the standard weapon those marines are using is the C-14 "impaler" rifle. It's designed specifically for use in conjunction with the powered armor standard with their marines. It does have a variety of ammunition types, but the most commonly used type is the 8mm depleted uranium spike. It has good stopping power, although it's not armor piercing. The standard magazine contains 500 rounds."

At the mention of the magazine size, John raised his eyebrow for the second time. Again, Cortana noticed John's reaction.

"But the C-14 does have some significant drawbacks. For one, and possibly the most significant, it has huge recoil, so much that wielding that weapon without armor support and actually hitting the target you're aiming for his nigh impossible. Even with the support of their powered armor, they have to fire in short bursts. Another problem is its range. The C-14's accuracy is ridiculously low, even at relatively close ranges. This is countered by its high rate of fire, which can be between thirty to sixty rounds a second."

John thought that this wasn't a good weapon. Sure, fired at full auto at very close range, it would tear pretty much anything apart, but otherwise, he preferred the MA5 assault weapon system, made reliable through over a century of use.

"Next, are their armor systems. The marines are equipped with the CMC-500 powered armor, apparently the newest model. Note that despite being considered "pirates" by the Terran faction in control of this sector, this group, known as "Raynor's Raiders" utilize some of the best technology and gear available in this sector. The armor is comprised of neosteel, a highly strengthened version of contemporary steel alloy. It is inferior to the titanium-A used in our body armors, but much easier to produce."

John thought back to his history lessons at Reach when he was still in training. The UNSC had fully adopted titanium-A when the Covenant invaded despite difficulties in refining the metal. Only the best though, since the human race was in mortal danger from a technologically superior foe. Meanwhile, Cortana continued.

"However, the armor is thick enough that it's despite its inferior alloy, it tops the standard Mjolnir armor in protection. It is, however, much bulkier, and in overall protection, much weaker due to your energy shields. Furthermore, the Monitor at that outpost replaced your standard Mjolnir armor alloy with something else, something much stronger, and with an unusually high tolerance to energy weapons, so it's likely that your current armor is stronger as well, even unshielded."

John noted this fact, but made no plans to test it any time soon.

"Unfortunately, while their armor is impervious to most small arms, and highly resistant to standard Terran weaponry, it is incredibly inadequate against both Zerg and Protoss weaponry. The spines from those hydralisks rip through neosteel like it's not even there. The raiders, at least, have seemed to notice this fact, and have equipped their marines with a 30mm bonded carbide shoulder shield, increasing marine survivability by 25%. It's been consistently rated to stop at least one hydralisk spine."

Cortana indicated the sole medic in the bay with them on John's heads up display, outlining the white armored woman in yellow.

"I have found an interesting exception to the…crudeness of Terran armor. This is a combat medic, equipped in a lighter variant of their CMC powered armor, and with a much larger shield to compensate for the lack of weaponry. They are equipped with an incredibly advanced laser projector, capable of delivering medical agents directly into wounded personnel, and also perform on site surgery to boot. However, it seems that the locals acquired the technology from another Terran faction, one that I haven't found many details on."

The Spartan was more than impressed, medical technology like that could've saved a lot of lives in the war. Cortana, indicating the largest armored soldier in the bay, continued.

"The juggernaut at the end of the bay is called a marauder. They are equipped with heavy armor, capable of withstanding severe damage. The marauder uses concussive grenade launchers, particularly effective against hardened targets. They also have a layer of kinetic foam, and in conjunction with the armored plating, is rated to survive up to three shots from the main cannon of a tank. There's also a variant equipped with flamethrowers as well, named the firebat."

Cortana outlined the final soldier in the troop bay, Hana. The ghost was tiny compared to all the others, from the lack of bulky powered armor. While looking at the ghost, John was surprised when Hana reacted; giving what looked like a confused glance at him, before looking away. To John, it seemed as if she knew he was watching her, despite him making no movement from an exterior point of view. However, Cortana's explanation cleared things up a bit.

"Specialist Hana Nakano is a very valuable asset to the Raiders it seems. In the years the Terrans have been here, they've molded the psionic mutations in several people into weapons. Specialist Nakano in particular, is known as a Ghost. Judging by the standard training, she was taken from her parents at birth, upon having been screened for psionic potential. Throughout her life, she would have endured rigorous training. It seems the washout rate for Ghosts is over 50%. Nakano turns out to have a particularly high psi index, a scale for estimating psionic power. She has a psi index of 8.5, meaning she has strong telepathy skills, and potential for telekinesis."

"_That explains how she seemed to know I was looking at her"_ the Spartan thought. Then it hit him.

"So does that mean she can read my mind?" Asked the Chief, now very alert, and trying hard to clear his mind and failing. Next to him, the Ghost gave another questioning glance, confirming that she could, at least to some degree, feel John's emotions.

"Technically yes, however, it seems that while you were unconscious, Sycophantic Shepard added some kind of psi screen to your standard neural interface in your brain. It completely blocks any tangible thoughts from being read by telepaths, however, it's possible that your emotions can still be read to a degree."

John felt immense relief, and Hana turned to John this time, and appeared as if she was about to ask him a question, but stopped, and went back to her original position.

"The standard armor that a ghost trooper wears, and Hana appears to be wearing the same armor, is a form fitting, full body polymer hostile environment suit, along with some thin, flexible neosteel plating on the knees, forearms, and upper chest, as well as shoulder plates. Standard would be an eyepiece giving a heads up display, but Hana has ocular implants that serve the same purpose. The suit is interwoven with psi-sentsitive artificial muscle fiber, augmenting natural strength based on raw psionic potential. It has limited NBC protection, and can stop some light caliber rounds. Otherwise, the armor is completely ineffective, and even a single hit from a C-14 shot can be enough to seriously injure or kill a Ghost. However, despite its lack of protective value, it features a number of abilities, usable only by psionics. Among them is a personnel cloaking device, powered by the energy of the user. In addition, the Raiders currently solely possess the most advanced ghost suit made, the Crius suit. This suit is infinitely more efficient than the standard ghost suit, and actually allows the user to be cloaked indefinitely with no strain to their energy reserves. The cloak is much more advanced that active camouflage, invisible to not only the naked eye, but all conventional detectors. Only detectors capable of sensing psionic energy, which your suit has, can scan for cloaked individuals. Among the Terran, these detectors seem to be pretty sophisticated, and hard to move. A number of other abilities are present, although they mostly vary from ghost to ghost."

The Spartan observed the Ghost. She looked to be a specially trained soldier, a cloaked dagger that could strike where her enemies least expected. Cortana had one last word though.

"Also, specialist Nakano is equipped with the standard ghost weapon of the time, the C-20A rifle. It's capable of being modified on the spot into a grenade launcher, with various types of grenades including but not limited to emp, and anti-biological variants. It can also be turned into a sniper rifle. Normally, it's an assault rifle, with a 24 high penetration round magazine. Specialist Nakano also has a psyblade, an energy based melee weapon, very rare, non standard issue."

Cortana finished off with a thought provoking statement.

"Ghosts are extremely difficult and expensive to train, especially considered the limited pool of potential candidates. Few factions have them, and the Raiders must be very resourceful to have specialist Nakano on their side, especially one of her psi index. Psi 8s and above are so rare that their existence is next to none."

The dropship suddenly angled down, forcing the Spartan to grab a handhold in order to keep from sliding down the troop bay. Over the intercom, the bright, cheery voice of the medivac pilot informed them that they were on landing approach to home base.

The Master Chief was about to meet with the ranking Raider commander on the planet.

_This is a complete, no action chapter, just to clear up some tech stuff. I tried to cut short the technology observations Cortana was making in the beginning because they probably seemed very boring to most people. By the way, my explanation of Hana constantly glancing at the Master Chief during Cortana's description of her is that despite not being able to read what John was actually thinking, she could feel that his quickly varying emotions were focused on her, hence her apparent confusion. (She probably thought he was checking her out)I should note that due to the augmentation process, John's sex drive has been suppressed. He's not distracted by the sexy (Rather, he doesn't notice it. Take acting nonchalant around Cortana for a prime example! She's technically naked!). _


	5. Getting the hell out of dodge

_A/N: Hey guys, (And girls) thanks for correcting me on whether John's sterile or not. John in this story is NOT sterile, although his sex drive is still effectively suppressed. That is all. Another thing, John may look OP against some of his opponents, but hey, against zerglings and hydralisks, he should be able to handle them quite well. I've also planned several cameos; see if you guys can spot them. By the way, sorry for the lengthy hiatus in writing, anyways, enjoy the fifth chapter! (I predict lots of "It's about time Findlay comments.")_

* * *

**1731 Hours, August 17, 2570 (Military Calendar) / DS-011 landing at Alliance Base Camp, Girax II**

John looked out the window as the dropship descended into the raider camp, guided by two aircraft on either side. They passed an uneven perimeter line of what looked like prefabricated bunkers, and turrets with rotating tops, right into the heart of the base. Unlike any UNSC firebase John had been used to all his life, rather than one integrated compound, various buildings were spread out haphazardly, all plain grey and metallic colors.

"We're linking you to the Raider Battle Net" Kerimov told him.

To John's surprise, all of the buildings had at least one part turn dark blue. He made a mental note to investigate that further later. The dropship touched down in the middle of a flight deck with flat landing struts rather than the wheels of a UNSC pelican, and to his amazement, the two escort fighters _transformed_ into some sort of mechanized walker with gatling guns for arms and landed with them. As far as John could tell, they were on a land based aircraft carrier. Its design looked like a building, but the Spartan could see obvious landing struts built into it as well. Before he could ponder on the design of this structure further, Captain Kerimov headed for a hangar bay, beckoning the Spartan to follow. The rest of the squad brought up the rear.

Without turning, Kerimov briefed the Spartan on the upcoming meeting.

"My superior, Colonel Russell will be questioning you during our debriefing."

The marine lieutenant that had ridden with them went off to report the unexpected Zerg threat to the command center.

Behind the squad, a pair of medics brought the body of Cpl. Cooper, still in her CMC armor out of the dropship. The rest of the squad glanced sorrowfully at the scene, and looked away.

* * *

The group reached the end of the hallway, and entered a spacious briefing room. A single man awaited them. It was a dark haired man, in a black uniform with colonel rank insignias, looking to be in his late forties. The Wildcats bravo squad saluted him. After returning the salute, he motioned for everyone to sit.

"Welcome back Wildcats, and hello Master Chief, I'm Colonel Allen Russell, commanding officer of this base" the man said, eyes looking over John's rank insignia on his shoulder armor.

In the next twenty minutes, Captain Kerimov gave his mission report, as well as noting the death of Cpl. Riley Cooper, to which Russell looked melancholic towards. Finally, they got to the Master Chief.

"Well, I have to thank you for saving the lives of my soldiers, but I'd like to know who are you and what the UNSC is." Russell said.

"My name is Master Chief petty officer John-117 of the Spartan program. I'm a soldier in the United Nations Space Command, which is the government and military of Earth and all her colonies." John started.

Continuing on despite the stunned looks of the others, the Spartan explained in brief, the Human-Covenant war.

"The UNSC has fought for nearly thirty years against a technologically advanced group of alien races known as the Covenant. During the final battle in the war, my ship, the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn was heavily damaged and left behind, with myself onboard. I activated a distress beacon and froze myself in cryogenic sleep to await rescue. After 17 years of drift, the Forward Unto Dawn crash landed on this planet."

Everyone was silent for a minute, before Colonel Russell broke that silence.

"We'll talk more about the UNSC in a moment, first though, let me welcome you to the Koprulu sector, we are members of the Raynor's Raiders, a faction dedicated to protecting Terran life throughout this sector. By the way, my Captain tells me you have been in a Xel'Naga outpost as well as acquired technology from said outpost?"

John sighed inside his helmet, unheard by anyone outside the suit. "_Of course that's what they're interested in."_ he thought.

"Yes, following the crash, I was severely wounded and knocked unconscious. I awoke later to find myself fully healed by the caretaker of the Xel'Naga outpost. We have encountered the Xel'Naga before, whom we call the Forerunners. They've named us reclaimers, their descendants. All that's left of these Forerunners that we've found so far are very advanced and often unstable artificially intelligent caretakers. In this particular outpost, the monitor seemed perfectly fine and told me that its primary objective is the wellbeing of all reclaimers. He upgraded my armor and brought me to you."

This time, the Colonel frowned, looking like he was deep in thought.

"Odd, we've never encountered these caretakers before."

John nodded, and explained his theory through what he had learned.

"He told to me that the humans in this sector of space were classified as…an aboriginal subspecies instead, and left you alone. My suit contains an A.I, Cortana who has hypothesized that the classification is due to the development of psionic potential, which is not present in the people of the UNSC."

Colonel Russell nodded in understanding.

"I guess I'll have to believe you on that matter, we've been searching for weeks on this planet for any Xel'Naga technology with no luck. You see, this galaxy is in danger of an imminent invasion by a highly advanced and powerful race. We're trying to find anything that can help us defeat them."

John nodded in turn,

"This race is known as the hybrids right? I was warned by the Fore-, I mean Xel'Naga monitor of their threat, and I managed to send a message back to the UNSC, tens of thousands of light years away."

Russell looked surprised about the fact that the Xel'Naga, or at least their creations were aware of the threat as well. But the matter Russell moved on to next would not make much sense to the Spartan.

"Hmm, ok this next part might be a little confusing, first though, do you know of the UED?"

The Spartan shook his head.

"Never heard of it, what is it?"

John paused briefly at the sight of everyone in the room looking shocked, and wondered if he was missing something.

Colonel Russell answered his unspoken question,

"About seven years ago, an expeditionary fleet from the UED, or United Earth Directorate arrived from the Sol system. They were here to take control of the Zerg to use as a weapon, as well as take control of all Terran colonies here. They were successful to an extent, disposing the then infantile Dominion, routing the Protoss and Zerg, even taking the Zerg Overmind under their control. But every faction rallied against them and repelled them. Some remnants of them are still around, but they're not much of a threat anymore. We even have a company of them spread out through our fleet working as Mercenaries, they're called…"

Russell stopped, and looked as if he just realized something. Meanwhile, John waited patiently.

"Sorry, just had a minor epiphany there, the mercenary group is called Spartan company. They specialize in using combat mech walkers. Anyways, you haven't heard of the UED at all?"

John shook his head again, but offered a possible reason for not knowing of the UED.

"Maybe it was because my ship has been drifting for seventeen years. The UED must have been formed after I was gone. In which case humanity must have survived through the war I guess. Maybe if I could speak with someone from Spartan Company? See if they have any information?"

But this time, Russell shook his head.

"Unfortunately, we have no Spartan Company mercenaries with us here; they are attached only to frontline battlegroups, and with our main fleet, commanded by the leader of our group, James Raynor himself."

"I see…very well."

Russell nodded, "I'll put in a request to get someone from their company over here ASAP."

"Thank you, by the way, seeing as the hybrids threaten all of us, I'll help you against them," John said.

"Thank you, we can use any help we can get if we're all to survive." Russell said.

"Can we get some scans of the Xel'Naga tech on your suit? We may get some key insights and ideas from it." He continued.

At this point, Cortana decided to make her presence known, appearing and jumping off the Chief's shoulder, and quickly growing into a human sized hologram. Everyone except for Hana jumped in surprise. Russell himself took a step back in surprise, before collecting himself.

"I guess you must be the A.I. Cortana then?" Russell deduced.

"Yes, quick reasoning on your part, I might add." Cortana affirmed.

"We'll let you take some scans, and I can give you some more detailed schematics, and some suggested improvements to your existing armor. Note that the technology in the Chief's armor is pretty specialized, you'll have a hard time replicating it." Cortana stated, taking over the discussion.

Letting Cortana handle things, something she was better at than him, the Chief continued his examinations of his new armor. Inside his helmet, through a series of rapid blinking and eye movements, the Chief accessed armor specifications and status, finding everything to be fine, and the fact that the armor even continuously ran self-checks. That little feature would be enormously helpful during lengthened missions in the field, where standard maintenance was inconvenient.

Hana suddenly stiffened, and looked visibly agitated about something.

Russell noticed, "Specialist Nakano, something wrong?"

Ward looked over and inquired, "Hana? You sensing something?"

"It can't be...they're coming, the entire brood!" the ghost exclaimed.

All of a sudden, a tinny female voice came over the intercom

"Warning, incoming Zerg forces, early warning sensors have detected several thousand Zerg incoming, composition estimated to be of zerglings, hydralisks, roaches and ultralisk mutations."

A marine lieutenant rushed into the briefing room,

"Colonel! We've got tons of incoming Zerg! They just came out of nowhere and they're heading straight for us!"

Russell stood up with alarm, "How did we not see them coming? Comsat last reported them thousands of kilometers away!" he muttered.

Everyone looked expectantly at Russell.

The colonel made a snap decision.

"We don't have enough forces to repel this size of an attack, so we're doing a complete and total evacuation pronto. All personnel and any teams we have outside are to get to a space-worthy ship or structure. They have 10 minutes. When's the fleet due back here?"

"Two days sir!" replied the lieutenant.

"Contact command and inform them of the situation, we'll wait for them in orbit."

John stared out a window at the suddenly bustling base camp…

* * *

Long ago, some engineer came up with adding thrusters to buildings so that they could be moved from place to place. By 2507 Koprulu calendar, thrusters were standard on most Terran structures, capable of lifting said structures off and flying them to another landing site. The Raiders took this idea even further, and added more powerful thrusters, at the cost of being single use for escape velocity, enabling the buildings to break orbit as well.

All around the camp, the Raynor's Raiders packed up what they could with the time they had and sealed themselves into the buildings, which proceeded to launch up into the air and fly off. All across the continent, dropships and Hercules-class transports met up with the camp-transformed to air fleet. One by one, the structures broke orbit. The only things left were the odd piece of equipment and supply depots burrowed into the ground too deep to be flown out, but instead, had been emptied of vital equipment.

* * *

However, once the Raiders were in orbit, they had another surprise coming. A dozen unmarked wraiths screamed in, firing burst lasers at the transports and large buildings. The Raiders were sitting ducks for the nimble space superiority starfighters. Eight retaliation wraiths launched from improvised Hercules-class transport bays to intercept the threat. A bit further out however, laid the most serious threat. Out in the darkness of space, sitting at about 560 meters in length, a Minotaur-class battlecruiser approached at full speed, nuclear fusion engines blazing, about to enter weapons range of the Raider air fleet turned space fleet. The hammerhead battlecruiser and the wraiths had no faction colors whatsoever, and appeared to be pirates. They were unusually well armed for common pirates though.

Flying between two Hercules transports was the starport, the oval shaped control center buried deep within the structure was a hub of activity, as personnel looked over displays and operated consoles.

"Who are they?" asked Russell, the colonel staring at the holographic representations of the fleet and the approaching battlecruiser. Little notations accompanied each object, noting structure names and functions, etc. The battlecruiser was simply labeled as "bogey one". The Master Chief and the raiders had come here during the lift off procedure.

"They look like pirates sir!" a random officer replied.

"Damn, where did these pirates get a new battlecruiser like that Minotaur? Hail them!"

"They're not responding sir, they'll be entering weapons range in two minutes."

"What about the wraiths?"

"Our picket is mopping them up, we lost three to their ten. They aren't that good, but the squadron leader reports that even though their ships look worn and patched up, they operate at peak conditions, he thinks its some sort of disguise."

Just then, Hana gasped in surprise, turning every head in the room to her.

"Sir, they have a hive mind emulator, they egged the Zerg brood on to attack our base!"

Exclamations of shock came from the gathered technicians and wildcat squad.

John could guess what a "hive mind emulator" was, and decided to ask for an explanation later. The Spartan analyzed the battlecruiser, it looked like it had a strong main weapon with the ship built around it, same concept as UNSC warships. It looked like this mystery faction had drawn them out, and trapped them in a very bad place.

"The defense squadron leader reports that he's going to attempt an attack run on the battlecruiser before they get into bombardment range."

On screen, scanners tracked the five Raider starfighters streaking toward the battlecruiser. As point defense lasers on the cruiser opened up, the fighters expertly evaded the screen of bright orange lasers and fired their gemini missiles, a pair per fighter craft, into the heart of the ship…only for them to detonate several dozen meters off the hull, from meeting a glowing green latticework of lines. It was a total defense matrix.

In the control center, there was stunned silence. Broken by,

"Where in the hell did they get THAT?"

Suddenly, previously hidden missile pods on the battlecruiser fired hundreds of missiles, exploding in a brilliant display of fire and light. The detonating missiles caught two of the retreating wraiths, destroying them in embroiling thermal energy.

"_The CAG's been hit!" _came over the fleet com net.

"These guys can't be pirates, they have a hive mind emulator, and a battlecruiser with the most advanced technology available. Even Dominion fleet ships don't have that kind of firepower!" Moore exclaimed. Grim expressions were the only response he received.

"Damn it, I can't see how we're getting out of this one. The fleet's too far away to help, and we can't penetrate those shields with what we have on hand…"

On screen, the sinister battlecruiser loomed ever closer.

Even the Master Chief, veteran of hundreds of battles admitted this may be a hopeless situation. They were facing a superior foe in space and a relentless enemy ground side. They were literally between a rock and a hard place. As a ground soldier all his life, he hated having to do nothing and watch, his life in the hands of starship crews. Even so, the Chief would never go down without a fight, and he tried to come up with any sort of strategy.

"_We can't outrun them, and we don't have any FTL capability…"_

Cortana suddenly shouted into John's helmet.

"Chief! We can contact Sycophantic Shepard, maybe he can help!"

John agreed, it was worth a try.

"Colonel, we may have possible aid, we can contact the monitor of the Xel'Naga outpost on the surface and see if he can help." John said.

"Any help would be welcome at this point, do it." Russell replied.

Cortana broadcasted a message to Shepard, informing him of their dire situation. Meanwhile, the control center personnel all waited with bated breath, as the battlecruiser drew closer.

"They are thirty seconds to weapons range!" the ops officer reported.

Then tension in the air was almost palpable as the officer counted down.

"Ten, nine…"

"Sir, something's happening on the planet, scanners are showing MASSIVE tectonic activity!" another officer exclaimed.

"Impossible, Girax II has no tectonic activity…"

Hundreds of metallic spheres about a quarter in diameter with golden glowing central eyes, some in combined formations appeared. Hovering around their spheres were three cylindrical spars suspended in midair at equidistant points. To the Chief, they looked vaguely like hybridized sentinels/monitors.

The battlecruiser turned toward the sudden appearances, firing laser cannons…which did nothing against the sentinel shields. The nose of the battlecruiser started glowing orange, as if it were charging something. The sentinel formations combined together, forming a single large cluster.

"They're firing their Yamato cannon!" the ops officer cried.

A large bolt of thundering orange energy shot forward from the battlecruiser and hit the sentinel formation…only to dissipate into a swirling vortex.

Cries of consternation and unbelieving gasps erupted all over the control center.

"Some sort of energy capture, it absorbed that energy bolt!" Cortana exclaimed on speakers, sounding fascinated.

The sentinel formation now glowed with very bright energy, which coalesced into a ball of swirling energy at the tip, the power readings were far off the scale. The battlecruiser's engines flared to life, to no avail. The sentinel formation fired a blinding lance of blue energy. It impacted the battlecruiser, burning through its defense matrix in a split second, and bisecting the ship like a knife through butter. Secondary explosions dotted the hull, pinpricks of fiery light. The sentinel formation fired again, this time impacting the rear of the ship, near the engines, and a nuclear fire ball engulfed the remains of the battlecruiser, blasting what was left of the hammerhead section of the battlecruiser away. Shards of debris, most no bigger than a couple feet spun away from the wreck.

The sentinel formation descended back into the atmosphere, its deadly purpose completed.

"We're receiving a transmission…from the _core_ of the planet" someone said. No one checked who it was, most people still stunned at the awesome display of firepower.

"_Task completed, artificial psionic activity has provoked previously passive zerg presence in shelter world, Containment protocol Omega enacted, purging in process, estimated completion time… 55 days, 22 hours. Shelter world now in lockdown mode…All access denied during purging process."_

Across the surface of Girax II, landmasses visibly shifted, entire mountain ranges disappearing. Amazingly, _holes_ started forming in the middle of oceans, and an innumerable amount of sentinels poured out, observable even from outer space, testament to the raw numbers of forerunner drones on the planet.

"There must be _trillions_ of those things; no wonder Girax II doesn't have tectonic activity, the entire planet's artificial, those…drones ARE Girax II." Russell stated, in shocked awe.

"They're called sentinels, caretaker machines of the Xel'Naga." Cortana stated.

Across the Raider fleet, reactions to the sentinels and their abrupt rescue were mostly alike. Ones of dazed wonder.

* * *

_I'll admit, this chapter was a bit rushed. But Chief and co. are finally off Girax II, the story picks up better from here. To the detail scrutinizers, I know that there are some inconsistencies such as dates. Trust me, it'll all be revealed soon. Please review! And feel free to give suggestions, to either my writing or the story itself! I've already gotten some good insight from past reviews!_


	6. CH6: Preview

**Note:** This is just a preview of the next chapter! (And also the only real stuff I could recall off the top of my head)

_A/N: I've actually already finished this chapter once. However, the hard drive it was in decided that that was the best time to fail. I did not have a backup drive with me as I was actually on a road trip. After two more weeks of near nonstop driving on the road, I found another computer to use, and tried to recover some files off the drive. A couple days of scanning later, with some retries, I managed to get a ton of raw files off the drive, including several thousand word documents. Without the original file names intact. _

_After another couple days of sifting through those, I came to the conclusion that most of them were corrupted or only partially recovered anyways. Including the otherwise complete Ch. 6 of this story…so back to square one. _

Sorry guys… Dx

Well, here's what I've got back down so far…and it's not proof read.

* * *

**2320 Hours, August 17, 2570 (Military Calendar)/ Girax II orbit**

Captain Anatoly Kerimov took slow, forceful steps along the neosteel corridor of a battlecruiser's hammerhead section. Due to the extensive damage to the ship, the gravity accelerators were offline. Consequentially, the salvage team had to make due with grav-boots, which required some effort to move in.

The corridor was open to space on one side, and Kerimov peered over at the Rag-tag raider base fleet through the polarized faceplate of his armor. In space, the CMC-500 was fully sealed and could last twelve hours on recycled oxygen. Kerimov didn't like zero-g operations. Oh, he had been fully trained in it as per his Spec Ops. Rating, but he was a ground pounder at heart.

The Xel'Naga sentinels had really done a number on this ship, only a partial amount of four of the forward most decks of the battlecruiser had survived, which thankfully, included the bridge, more or less intact, although without atmosphere of course.

As Kerimov entered the bridge, he took in the details. On one side, all of the deceased crew members found were piled off to one side, some in powered armor, but punctured with many holes from shrapnel. The bridge was tidy and sparse, something Kerimov would've expected on a disciplined military warship, not a pirate group. Lt. Commander Grant from the Raider Engineering Corps. and his team were busy removing the ship's physical database, which was miraculously undamaged. On the other side of the bridge, a familiar face waved him over.

Corporal Devlin Moore was standing over a technician, observing the man at work. They were trying to access the ship's navigational logs, which were proving difficult since the interface had been smashed apart.

"Moore, how are the salvage operations going here?" Kerimov asked as he took faltering steps over.

"Pretty well, Grant's getting the database, but we're having trouble getting the nav logs." Moore replied.

To punctuate his statement, the technician swore loudly, and tapped in something on his digital data tablet. The screen however, went to a blue screen, and the tech slammed his armored hand into the keyboard in rage, unintentionally shattering it.

"What's the hold up?" Moore asked.

The tech shook his head in frustration.

"They've got some sort of insane setup in here. Even on low power, the computer's defenses are crazy strong! If this weren't a closed network, I'd say someone's actively countering me. I've tried every piece of software I could think of, nothing's working. Hell, it even managed to download some crap into my tablet, it just overloaded the CPU!"

Kerimov frowned, "Maybe we should just bring it back onboard to figure it out." He said.

Kerimov noticed vibrations caused by heavy footfalls, and turned to see the Spartan coming up from behind him.

Because of his part in saving them all, he had been allowed onboard to help in salvaging process.

"I couldn't help but notice your problem with accessing the navigation logs. My partner wants to take a crack at it." The Spartan said.

Cortana projected her holographic image, life sized in front of them all, causing quite a few of the salvage crewmen to turn and stare.

Lt. Commander Grant slapped his hand to his forehead and sighed.

"She's only photons boys, now get back to work!"

Cortana strode toward the wrecked interface console,

"There hasn't been a system made that could keep me out!" She stated.

"But how are you going to access that if you're just a hologram?" The tech questioned. He looked expectantly at the Chief, but there was no movement from the latter.

Cortana pressed a palm over the surface of the interface and disappeared, causing the three Raiders to gasp in shock.

"I'm in. And huh…there's something else in here with me…wait…no…_Gotcha!_ You little sucker! You guys can access it now." Cortana said, over their suit radios.

"Just like that!" The tech exclaimed, in disbelief.

Cortana's purple hologram reappeared, this time cradling what looked like a holographic starchart, with the logs represented as names and dates, each of them along a blue highlighted line that marked the ship's travel history.

The three men sifted through the data engrossed. As the tech zoomed in however, one particular location made three pairs of eyes widen in shock.

* * *

Not much, I know. On the other hand, more or less all of my photos and videos survived intact. Huh...


End file.
